Editing Romano Prodi (section)

==Return to Italian politics (2005–2006)==
===The Union primary election===
{{see also|2005 Italian centre-left primary election|}}
Shortly before the end of his term as President of the European Commission, Prodi returned to national Italian politics at the helm of the enlarged centre-left coalition, [[The Union (political coalition)|The Union]].

[[File:ProdiBari.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Prodi in [[Bari]] during the electoral campaign]]
Having no party of his own, in order to officially state his candidacy for the [[2006 Italian general election|2006 general election]], Prodi came up with the idea of an apposite [[Partisan primary|primary election]], the first of such kind to be ever introduced in Europe and seen by its creator (Prodi himself) as a democratic move to bring the public and its opinion closer to the Italian politics.

When the [[2005 Italian centre-left primary election|primary elections]] were first proposed, they were mostly meant as a [[Referendum|plebiscite]] for Romano Prodi since there were no other candidates for the leadership of the coalition. The secretary of the Communist Refoundation Party, [[Fausto Bertinotti]], then announced he would run for the leadership, even if only to act as a [[paper candidate|symbolic candidate]], to avoid a one-candidate election. After some time, more candidates were presented, like [[Union of Democrats for Europe]] leader [[Clemente Mastella]], [[Italy of Values]] leader and former magistrate [[Antonio Di Pietro]], [[Federation of the Greens]] leader [[Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio]] and others few minor candidates.<ref>[http://www.quotidiano.net/politica/primarie-pd-storia-1.3075073 Primarie Pd, la storia: partì tutto da Prodi nel 2005]</ref>

The primary election may have been foreseen an easy win for Romano Prodi, with the other candidates running mostly to "measure their strengths" in the coalition, and they often talked about reaching a certain percentage rather than winning. However, there were rumours of supporters of the [[House of Freedoms]] trying to participate in the elections, and vote in favour of Mastella, reputed to be the least competent of the candidates and the least likely to win against Berlusconi, other than the most centrist; other rumours indicated such "fake" left-wing voters would vote for Bertinotti, because his leadership would likely lose any grip on the [[centrism|political centre]].<ref>[http://www.corriere.it/Speciali/Politica/2005/primarie/articoli/voto.shtml Quattro milioni e 300mila, Prodi al 74,1%]</ref>

The election had been held nationwide on 16 October 2005, from 8 am to 10 pm. Poll stations were mainly managed on a voluntary basis; they were hosted mainly in squares, local party quarters, schools, and even [[restaurant]]s, [[Bar (establishment)|bars]], [[Recreational vehicle|campers]] and a [[hairdresser]]; some polling stations were also provided outside the country for Italians abroad. Most of the party leaders claimed a result of 1 million voters would be a good success for the election, but over four million people for the occasion went to cast a vote in the primary election.<ref>[http://www.repubblica.it/2005/j/sezioni/politica/primarieunio2/16ottobr/16ottobr.html Unione, quasi 4 milioni di elettori. Prodi supera il 73%, Bertinotti al 15,4%]</ref>